Kremlins and Clinics
Three eventful days in Moscow!
We stayed in the AST Hof hotel, because it was on the list of hotels we could book through Monkey Business, the company with which we'd booked our Trans-Mongolian train ticket. It was really expensive and we had a really grungy room with a dirty carpet complete with cigarette burns. We'd tried to book our own accommodation in Moscow before we set off, but in the end got fed up trying and decided to book through the tour company. Getting the accommodation vouchers together in order to apply for the Russian visa proved to be a real pain.
On day 1 we did a boat trip down the river, and then wandered around the city a bit. We ended up at Gorky Park, just before sunset. It was getting a bit late in the evening so things were shutting down, but it was pleasant to stroll around by the river and soak up the atmosphere.
On day 2 we headed for Red Square, and did the obligatory tour of the Kremlin, St Basil's and Lenin's mausoleum. I got a whistle blown at me in the Kremlin for stepping off the pavement! We also managed to get to Gorky park, and have a bit of a wander around. Because of Zoe's swolen ankle I did some further sight-seeing on my own. I headed to the Space Museum, where they have Yuri Gagarin's capsule, amongst other things. It looks like a giant cannonball, which rougly corresponds to how it was launched into space. Next door is a place called BDNX (VDNKh), which is a park created to celebrate Soviet life. It contains a pavillion for each constituent republic in the former Soviet Union, as well as some very showy fountains, and, at the back of the park, a couple of airliners and a space rocket.
The other "highlight" of our time in Moscow was a trip to the American Medical Center, to get Zoe's infected ankle sorted out. We encountered a doctor who couldn't spell in Russian, and a pharmacist who corrected the doctor's spelling, but didn't understand drug dosages! We also got an initial prescription for an antibiotic which no-one had in stock. After much to-ing and fro-ing we finally got hold of some antibiotics, antibiotic cream and extra large dressings. Fortunately over the next few days it all did the trick, and the swelling gradually receded.
Highlights of places to eat in Moscow included an Indian restaurant called Kajuraho, a Bulgarian restaurant called Mekhani Bansko, and a Russian canteen-style restaurant called Moo Moo, which had a rough cow theme.
Our final day in Moscow was spent hiding from extremely heavy rain in an Internet cafe. We didn't realise at the time that we wouldn't see rain again until February, in Sri Lanka. That is quite odd when you've spent your whole like in Britain!
There are many great things about this restaurant:
1) It's cheap. Compared with other places we went, you can get a lot of food for your money.
2) It's set up like a canteen. This means that you can walk along with a tray and point at things. And this means you don't have to know the Russian for "stew and dumpling", which is handy.
3) The decor is cow-themed, which adds to any meal.
OK. The food's not marvellous, but it is cheap so it balances out. We went there twice in a row. If you're trying to save money (and struggling with the language) it's a great option.
It would have been less bad if the hotel had been nice, but it wasn't. They gave us a tired room with a dirty carpet full of cigarette burns, and the button to call the lift on our floor didn't work.
The staff were rude, apart from one girl who worked on reception who was lovely and went out of her way to help us.
The breakfast was included in our room price, and was a buffet, so I did my best to eat as much as I could and get some of our money back!
I wouldn't recommend that you choose this hotel; there must be better ones for the same money, or cheaper ones for the same quality.
I expected the food to be disappointing; I am often not impressed by Indian food which you get in restaurants around mainland Europe. However, we both thought that the food was excellent. There was a good range of dishes, some with which I was familiar, some not. I forget what we ordered (it's two years ago), but we were very pleased with everything that we got. Pricewise it seemed expensive to us at the time, but we were trying to spend as little as possible, and this was a treat for us, so in reality it can only have been averagely priced. I have read a review of this restaurant where the food is described as being too mild, but I remember it being rather spicy, and I'm normally someone who orders the more spicy dishes at home.
If you like a good authentic Indian meal, and you're in Moscow, then I'd heartily recommend this place.
